Employers upbeat on hiring in Q4

Many employers here remain upbeat about hiring through the last three months of the year.

A recent survey of 650 employers in Singapore revealed that nine out of 10 plan to add to their work- force or keep their current payrolls intact through the October-December timeframe.

In the latest Manpower Employment Outlook Sur- vey, about 23 per cent of employers predict an increase in staffing levels and 69 per cent expect no change.

Employers in the public administration and education sectors were most upbeat on hiring plans.

But a weaker outlook was reported by employers in five out of seven industry sectors quarter-over-quarter, with employers in the trans- port and utilities sectors reporting the weakest fourth-quarter hiring plans.